


Recovery

by draconicsockpuppet



Category: Romancing SaGa 3 (Video Game)
Genre: F/M, Mentions of Canon Illness, Slice of Life, Travel
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-02
Updated: 2020-08-02
Packaged: 2021-03-06 05:19:32
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,293
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25677967
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/draconicsockpuppet/pseuds/draconicsockpuppet
Summary: When Thomas and his companions had gone, Muse said firmly, "I want to go outside."
Relationships: Charl/Muse Claudia Claudius (Romancing SaGa 3)
Comments: 2
Kudos: 2
Collections: Rare Pairs Exchange 2020





	Recovery

**Author's Note:**

  * For [rubylily](https://archiveofourown.org/users/rubylily/gifts).



> I've loved this game via fan translation for twenty years, and Muse is a standard part of my usual party. Doing canon review for this work was a joy. However, I haven't yet played the official remaster, so other than the names given in the prompt, I've continued to use the Mana Sword translation's names for characters and places.

When Thomas and his companions had gone, Charl went to Muse and kissed her. "How are you feeling?"

"Better." Muse tilted her head and smiled up at him. "How's your arm?"

Charl clenched his silver fist and then flexed it before her. "Like having my own back again."

Muse took the silver hand in her own and pressed a kiss to its palm. Then she said firmly, "I want to go out and take a walk."

Charl's eyebrows raised. "Every time you go out, your illness relapses."

"Yes, and now we know why." The dreams, the tower, the monster hidden in her mind that was now gone… Muse smiled. "Please."

"…I'll make a picnic lunch to take with us."

* * *

The sun shone brightly over Pidona's slums when they emerged from their little ramshackle house, Charl with a basket over his arm, Muse's steps halting.

"It's going to be a hot day," Charl said, squinting up at the sky. "Wait a moment."

Muse smiled and watched as he went back and retrieved a simple parasol, then cracked it open and held it for her. "My loyal knight," she whispered as she curled her elbow around his flesh arm and laid her hand over his.

"Always, milady."

"Muse! Muse!" Gon and the children yelled and waved from by the brook, then ran north, playing some new game or other.

"Don't go to the tower again!" Muse called out. Then she breathed in and waited for the cough.

In, out. In, out. Nothing but air, heavy with the scent of trash, but her lungs continued regardless.

"You _are_ better," Charl said.

"I want to go to the manor," Muse told him. "If it's possible."

Charl nodded, and together, they slowly crossed the bridge over the fetid brook and ascended, one stair at a time, into Pidona proper. The rank smell of the slums slowly faded, replaced by forge-smoke and a salty sea breeze. The streets were busy with merchants and laborers running to and fro. Muse didn't even notice the child with bright pink pigtails until a hefty weight careened into her, and then she only remained upright by clinging to Charl's arm.

"Hey, stop that!" Charl called out. "And apologize to the lady."

"Sorry, lady! Sorry, sir!" The girl scampered off again, too quick, her little shoes clop-clop-clopping against the cobblestones.

"So energetic," Muse mumbled.

"Let's take the back way," Charl suggested gently. Muse nodded, and they left the bustle behind.

The Claudius family manor was nestled up against Pidona Castle, where Muse had once lived. Everything had changed since those days, but this, this was still as she remembered.

"Do you miss it?" Charl rumbled by her side.

"I miss being healthy," Muse admitted. "Sometimes I miss my family, and the castle gardens, and our walks along the wall."

Charl nodded.

"But I have what I want most already," she finished. "Everything else is irrelevant."

He broke into a smile and patted her hand on his with his silver hand. "I'm happy to hear that."

Muse took one last look at the manor and turned. "Shall we eat at the docks?"

They took the back roads there as well. Pidona's docks were, as always, bustling with activity. The greatest port in all the land, and Muse had never even been to sea. 

"Sailing isn't as entertaining as it looks," Charl said with a knowing smile. "Being seasick is miserable."

"We could leave right now," Muse retorted as she stretched one foot out of the parasol's shade and enjoyed the sun's warmth. "Step on a ship, pay the fare, and off we go to some other land."

"When you've recovered a little more," Charl said. "Once I've had time to pack our things and talk to a few people." He put a sandwich wrapped in paper in her hand, then pulled an apple out of his basket and took a big bite out of it.

Muse took the hint and ate her lunch.

* * *

They took walks down to the quay every day after that. Muse's health continued to improve, although she felt a shiver of fear whenever she looked at the Devil's Tower rising tall above the slums, and the children continued to come to her for lessons in reading and writing and basic sums. Charl went out more, spending hours away talking to old friends and making his arrangements. Three days after their picnic at the quay, a porter knocked on their door to deliver a shipping crate. He quickly wheeled his little cart in and out again, his nose all wrinkled at the rank smell of the slums, and Muse began to pack.

There wasn't much left of her old life; a dress too fine to wear, a few portraits of her family in miniature, and a richly decorated dagger she carried with her everywhere, hidden in her bodice. Most of their possessions now were useful, not beautiful; cheap, not expensive; and easily replaced, if only they had the money.

Then Charl brought a merchant home with him.

"This is Fullbright," he said, blunt as usual.

Muse smiled and curtseyed; her body could finally perform the courtesies she remembered from the old days. "Greetings, Master Fullbright."

"Lady Muse." Fullbright threw a look Muse couldn't decipher at Charl. "I have a job for you both, if you're willing."

Muse looked to Charl. "Is it a _travel_ sort of job?"

Charl nodded.

Muse turned to Fullbright with a delighted smile. "Please, do tell."

* * *

Muse curled into Charl's body as they laid together on the bottom bunk in their little cabin. It was their first night out at sea, and she'd stayed out on deck watching the stars with wonder until her legs were too tired to walk and Charl had to carry her to bed. And now he wanted to _talk_.

"We'll go to Librof first and buy out as much as we can of the Lasiev Firm," he said, running one silver finger along the map in a line from Pidona south, "Then Loanne for the Pioneer Society. Then head north to Kidlanto and Zweig and invest in that mad Professor…"

Muse pulled the map out of his hands and tossed it on the floor.

"Hey!" Charl gently combed his hands through her hair as she buried her face in his chest. "I was looking at that."

"Not right now," Muse mumbled, and then she bit at him.

"Your health is improving by the day," Charl said with joy in his voice. "I can't bring your parents back, but we can restore the Claudius group to its former glory. It will be yours, as it should have been all along."

"Thank you for thinking of me," Muse said as she raised up on her elbows and looked down at his dear, beloved face through her own tangled hair, "but right now, I'd like to spend a little time with you without any accounting or geography whatsoever." She tugged at his shirt.

"Oh. Oh!" Charl grinned as he helped her pry the shirt off, then laid back down, drawing his hands behind his head. "As you wish, milady."

Muse drew upon the barely-remembered lessons of her childhood and upon the mana flowing through her body as she laid her hands on his chest and pressed in deep, sparking a silvery glow that soon enveloped them both in healing moonlight. Charl raised a hand and expertly called a lick of fire and sunshine to it: light and light, different yet complementary.

Muse sank both hands deep in his thick white hair and lowered herself onto him, kissing him fervently as she unbuckled his belt.

* * *

They disembarked at Librof the next day with seagulls wheeling above, Charl steady at her side, and the future bright before them.


End file.
